


The Kingdom of the Bright Mountains

by Dragonsteamfan



Category: The Labyrinth - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonsteamfan/pseuds/Dragonsteamfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah's words at the heart of the Labyrinth had an unintended effect.  Now she, and Jareth, along with Sarah's friends and family have to live with the result.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Her Kingdom as Great" by MarbleGlove

**BELOW**

 

It took Jareth almost a week to restore order to his lands after Sarah won the right to reclaim her baby brother. The Labyrinth itself sustained the least amount of damage of course, as it merely rearranged itself to accommodate the changes. His castle and the city however, had nearly been destroyed. So it was understandable that he hadn’t noticed what was happening on his southern border until it was brought to his attention by a visit from an old friend from a neighboring kingdom.

_And my kingdom as great_

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Alrik exclaimed as he and Jareth strolled down the corridor of Jareth’s castle. “Another land appeared on your southern border six days ago. Perhaps someone is planning to invade your kingdom for the power of your labyrinth and needs a place to launch it from,” he added with relish.

“Alrik, you are the most bloodthirsty fae I know,” Jareth drawled with a grin. “You’re almost goblin-like. Seriously though, I doubt my new neighbor is planning an invasion. A new kingdom takes time to establish. If the one who created it does not wish it to return to the Endless Mists whoever they are is going to be far too busy to launch anything at me and mine. There are citizens and inhabitants to bring in or create, homes and businesses to be built, alliances and treaties to be made with other kingdoms…” he trailed off as the Goblin King and the fae reached the southern wall of Jareth’s castle.

In the distance a mountainous realm spread out before them. Crystal clear water cheerfully flowed down into lakes that were surrounded by mountain peaks and brightly flowered meadows. Forests grew strong up the mountain sides, but they were the bright green and brown of assorted helpful type trees, such as pine, maple, oak and cedar, rather than the gloom of a haunted one. Snow glinted silver in the sunlight upon the highest mountain tops. On top of the highest peak was a single small castle, which looked as though it grew out of the mountain itself. The land’s cheerful defiance of its gloomy neighbors; The Goblin’s Labyrinth, The Elven Forest of Twilight, and the Dragon’s mountainous Wastelands was obvious both in its bright sunlight and the almost sheer cliffs that marked its borders. Only the Unicorn’s Forest of Spring matched it for cheerfulness and that lay on the far side of the Elven Forest from this new kingdom.

It was Sarah’s kingdom. Jareth knew it from the moment he set eyes upon it and he cursed the mortal girl, although not a sound left his lips. He was far too experienced in his magic to make that beginner’s mistake. Words had power here, if one was strong enough. Sarah Williams was stronger than any mortal Jareth had met in his long lifetime. She had defeated his labyrinth, and in doing so had won his heart, although she had rejected him and all he had offered her. Now the words Sarah had spoken that night nearly one week before had conjured out of the Endless Mist yet another truth from her tale. Now her kingdom was as great as his own Labyrinth.

Jareth suddenly tried to remember everything else she had said that night, beyond the cruel words that she had scorned him with. What else would become true? Every word she had spoken from the time his goblins first woke to hear her words had the potential to become his reality now.

“And for a goblin you are remarkably civilized,” Alrik cheerfully insulted right back, not noticing Jareth’s preoccupation. Youngest son of the current King of the Forest of Twilight, Alrik had grown up among the royalty of the kingdoms surrounding his parent’s lands, and he was no stranger to the ways of his favorite race. Insults and bashing one another over the head with a stray chicken was the height of brotherly love among the least of the goblins, and no matter how high or low ranked a goblin might be insults remained their most favored form of communication, creatures of mischief and chaos that they are. Typical for a fae, Alrik was tall, blond and blue eyed, with tall pointed ears and skin as pale as moonlight. Child of a Goblin King and a whished-away human, Jareth looked almost fae - albeit with sharp teeth, talons instead of nails, mismatched eyes and rounded ears. His hair was yet another thing that marked him as non-fae, the wild, feathery strands bushing out in all directions. None of that mattered to the two friends. As a goblin, Jareth was more than used to the wild differences among his people, and Alrik’s unending curiosity had led him to make friends with far stranger looking creatures. That was the reason his father had chosen him to be the ambassador to the lands surrounding their forest kingdom.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Alrik asked, waving to the bright lands.

Jareth bit his lip, uncharacteristically uncertain before giving into the impulse that suddenly overcame him. “I have three prisoners, well four if you count the knight’s steed, and I hadn’t figured out what to do with them yet.”

“So you’ll exile them there?” Alrik asked, puzzled. “But that will help stabilize the new lands. If they have inhabitants, then there is less chance that the Endless Mist will reclaim them.”

“Yes, I know,” Jareth agreed. “But, they’ve earned an execution by giving their loyalty to another ruler. It’s a better sentence than killing them for helping a friend.” He gestured, a crystal ball appearing in his hand before he smashed it on the flagstones beneath his feet. Before the King and prince four creatures appeared – a garden gnome, a fox wearing the clothing of a knight and who was petting a cowering sheep dog, and a behemoth covered in fur. They were all in chains.

“Each of you has committed treason against your king,” Jareth stated sternly. “You should be executed for this crime. However, you committed this crime only to help a friend, and I am not so much of a monster as to kill you for it. Your sentence is exile to the new lands to the south.” He conjured up a crystal and threw it at the group. They disappeared in a flash of light.

Only to reappear at the top of the cliffs that was the border between the Labyrinth and the new lands, chains gone and packs at their feet. Jareth’s voice echoed about them. “You gave your loyalty to her. So serve her well, or you will be begging to be Bogged.”

They stared at each other for a moment; then Sir Didymus spoke. “To serve the Lady is no hardship.”

“Sawa friend,” Ludo agreed.

“Well, we’d better see what we’ve got to work with,” Hoggle said. He knelt down and began searching the packs. The King of the Goblins had always terrified Hoggle. It had made him act like a coward when Sarah was running the Labyrinth, and he was determined to make it up to her. He knew that between the three of them practicalities would fall to him to take care of. The others were good to have at his back when in a fight or on a quest, but they weren’t the most practical of people. Hoggle was surprised to find that Jareth had supplied them with all of the tools, seeds and other supplies that they would need to set up homes and gardens. There were even a few seedlings and starts for plants that Hoggle knew only grew in the solar gardens of the Castle beyond the Goblin City– gardens that were only for the King’s pleasure. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. “We’d better get going if we’re going to get to the castle before our supplies run out.”


	2. Chapter 2

**THE CASTLE BEYOND THE GOBLIN CITY**

“Interesting,” Alrik said, glancing from the spot where the prisoners had been to the Goblin King. “You know who created those lands, and you want him or her to stay.” His glance was a little too knowing, but as Jareth’s best friend he could tread in places that others could not. They both knew that normally Jareth would never have done anything to help stabilize a new country.

“Her name is Sarah,” Jareth said. “She’s not your normal Dreamer.” Dreamers were those mortals who lived Above who had the ability to imagine so strongly that their dreams affected the lands of the Realm of Eternal Mists, and in some cases actually created new ones. “Many Dreamers have run my Labyrinth, and each time they do they allow my goblins greater access to the Above and the unwanted children there. However, few have ever shown my subjects any sort of kindness. Those who would normally be inclined to be kind are usually far too frightened or wrapped up in their run to do more than give a token word of thanks. Sarah made friends. She made friends with _my_ subjects.”

Both men knew that for the mortals from Above, elves and even dragons were more acceptable than a goblin, much less some of the more unusual inhabitants of the Labyrinth.

 

**ABOVE**

 

 

There was never a chance that Sarah would forget about her adventure, not a single small detail. No one would have ever been able to convince her that it was just a dream or another fairytale; that is if she’d been foolish enough to tell anyone about it. The reasons for this were simple; she could now see goblins and other creatures of Faerie whenever they were about, she could talk with her friends from the Labyrinth whenever she wanted, and there was physical evidence in the bruises all over her body and the accumulated dirt, rocks and various debris from the Labyrinth itself that had ended up in her clothes.

Sarah had barely made it through breakfast the next morning as Karen, her stepmother, had started in on her the moment she appeared in the kitchen, loudly disdaining Sarah’s choice of clothes, lack of friends and social life. Sarah had gritted her teeth and reminded herself that she was going to be a more responsible person now, and not to take things for granted, such as assuming that Karen was evil simply because she was Sarah’s stepmother. There had to be something nice about the woman or her father never would have married her.

Her vow lasted less than two weeks. No matter what she did, Karen found fault with it. Karen complained about her lack of friends. Sarah tried to explain that she really didn’t have much in common with the other kids at school, but Karen just scoffed and said that there was no reason for her to turn her nose up at the perfectly respectable young people in her classes. Karen ordered her to do chores, but no matter how Sarah tried to do as she was told Karen always scolded her for not doing it correctly. The last straw came when Karen set her up on a date with the son of a client without her knowledge or consent.

The fight that resulted was worse than any that had happened before, mostly because Sarah had found the courage and determination deep within herself to win back her baby brother from the Goblin King by solving his Labyrinth. Having found her strength once, it was easy for her to find it once more, only this time she was truly standing up to the injustice Karen was heaping on her instead of just whining about it and throwing temper tantrums. This was not just dumping her baby brother on her and assuming that she had time to watch him because she was a hopeless, social outcast.

After an hour of arguing, knowing that nothing she could say would ever get Karen to see things from her point of view, Sarah left the living room where Karen had announced the date that Sarah would be going on. She did not go and pick out clothes for the date. She went to her father’s home office. “Dad, I need arbitration.”

“Well, that’s different,” her father joked. As a lawyer he knew that Sarah knew what the term meant. He also had seen how Sarah had been trying to act more reasonable the last couple of weeks. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” He followed Sarah back into the living room and was amused at her formally sitting him in his recliner, which would put him between the two, almost like in a court room setting.

“Karen, this time you’ve gone too far. You refuse to listen to me so I’ve asked Dad to arbitrate for us,” Sarah stated as calmly as she could with her temper blazing.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Karen scoffed.

“I don’t see that she’s being ridiculous Karen,” Robert said. “For once she’s trying an adult solution instead of throwing a temper tantrum. That’s certainly a good reason to try it.”

“Fine,” Karen huffed. It was obvious that she thought he was merely giving in to his spoiled daughter.

“My first complaint is that she is constantly ridiculing my taste in clothing. It’s my body. I’m fourteen, not five and I have every right to dress as I see fit as long as I am decently covered and my clothes aren’t too outrageous,” Sarah said. She had decided to start at the bottom of the list of Karen’s crimes.

“You look like a boy or one of those Renaissance Fair vagabonds. The only time I see you in a dress is when you’re wearing those stupid costumes!” Karen cried.

“I like my costumes. You may not like them but they are the one thing I have left from my mother; which means that you aren’t allowed to call them stupid! As for my regular clothes, they do not make me look like a boy,” Sarah retorted. “I’m perfectly happy wearing jeans.”

“I can’t take you anywhere with you looking like that! You’ll never get a man that way!” Karen yelled in frustration.

“And that’s another thing!” Sarah yelled right back. “Who says I want a man in the first place? Maybe I want a girl, did you ever think of that? Or maybe I want to be a cat lady with a hundred cats or a single mom with a dozen kids adopted from foreign countries when I finish growing up! Who cares? I’ll date when I’m ready, not when you try and force me to be!” Sarah was actually a bit gleeful at the horror stricken look that crossed Karen’s face as she listed other things that she might be interested in. Apparently these were even less desirable in Karen’s eyes than being an old maid.

“Karen?” Robert asked, perplexed.

“Jonathan Ames is the son of Richard Ames,” Karen explained, exasperated and frustrated with Sarah’s stubbornness. All she was doing was trying to help, to teach Sarah how to act properly so she could get a good husband, and Sarah acted like she was trying to sacrifice her in one of those stupid fairy stories she was always reading. The girl would never get ahead in life if she didn’t get her head out of the clouds. “He’s a perfectly respectable young man and he needs a date for the charity auction tonight. It’s nothing more than a favor to a very nice family, and it will introduce her to the right people. She can hardly object to that!”

“You never even asked,” Sarah growled. “You order me around, telling me to keep the house clean and then yell at me when I do it. I still can’t believe that you yelled at me for not vacuuming from East to West. That’s so picky it’s beyond ridiculous! You always dump Toby on me without bothering to find out if I’m busy or not, and busy does not have to mean that I have a date! I could have an important test to study for, a new book to read or, or anything at all really. You don’t care. I’m practically a slave you can order about. I don’t even get paid to babysit! Beth gets paid fifteen dollars when her parents go out and she has to watch her little sister. I’m not even going to touch keeping the house clean because there isn’t enough money in the world to get me to put up with your nit picking!”

“ALRIGHT! ENOUGH!” Robert burst into the argument. He did understand where both of them were coming from, but this was getting ridiculous. “We don’t have time for the two of you to be screaming at each other, not if the Ames’ are coming to pick you up Sarah. Now Sarah, I am asking you for the favor of going as Jonathan’s date tonight. He is a nice young man and this isn’t his fault. Plus, it really isn’t a date as you will both be with his parents. Karen, you are not to go around setting Sarah up on dates without her permission ahead of time. Do both of you agree?” Both women grimaced, but agreed.

“As far as I am concerned, fourteen is too young to be really dating. However, it is not too young to begin thinking about the future. Karen, I do understand that you are trying to help Sarah, but she’s not you and she never will be. She has to decide what she wants out of life. No two people ever want exactly the same thing. Leave Sarah’s clothes alone, unless as she’s said she isn’t decently covered or is too outrageous. Back off on the nit picking when you ask her to clean too, because she’s right that is far more than is reasonable when you are asking someone else to do something. If you want it done a certain way that badly, you should do it yourself, if you can’t be simply grateful that she’s even trying.

“As far as Sarah’s future is concerned Karen, you may not simply try to plan it out for her and expect her to go along with it. What you should do is talk to her about it. Sarah, you may not dismiss her out of hand. You should sit down and at least try to talk like an adult about it. If either of you need me to, I will try to mediate,” he offered. “Also, you’re right about not getting paid for watching Toby, Sarah. It’s not fair of us to do that. On the other hand, if you are going to get paid to watch him, no more whining about it. It will be a real job for you, deal?”

“Deal,” Sarah agreed, not that watching Toby bothered her anymore. She’d really had a change of heart after going through so much to get him back. She wasn’t happy about having to sit down and talking to Karen, but as her father had told her before arbitration was more about getting the best deal you could, rather than getting everything you wanted. She shook his hand and left to go get ready for her date. Her father was right about it not being Jonathan’s fault too. There was no need for her to be horrible to him about this. For all she knew, he was being forced into this date too.

She dashed up stairs and pulled a dress out of her closet. Unlike what Karen thought, she really did know how to dress up properly for a date, or at least how not to look like a goblin out for a night of mischief. She’d done enough dress up activities at school to have a decent dress to wear, nothing too fancy or fantastical, but still adult enough to pass Karen’s inspection. A quick trip to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth had her back in her room dressed and ready to put her makeup and hair up.

She wasn’t ready to see a certain Goblin King lounging about on her bed in his trademark tight black pants, a white poet’s shirt open to the waist and showing off his medallion, and knee high black boots. It really was the most casual that she’d ever really seen him. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she hurried over to her vanity. The fight with Karen really had her running late.

“You haven’t checked in on your friends in the last week, so I thought you’d like to know that if you don’t start taking care of them they’re going to starve to death. What Above or Below are you doing?” Jareth asked.

Sarah paused in applying her makeup. “I’m getting ready for a date, and what do you mean they’re going to starve to death?” she snapped, temper already rising again. “What did you do to them?!!”

“What do you mean, you’re going on a date?” Jareth demanded.

“JARETH!”

Jareth waved her anger aside. “They committed treason in helping you. No matter that they’re your friends, you were a runner and they are specifically forbidden to help. I should have had them executed for it. Instead, I sent them into exile – into your lands. Now, what date are you talking about,” he said flatly. “You are much too young to date.” He got up to pace around her room.

“Not according to my step-mother. She set me up as the date for a son of a client of hers for some charity dinner,” Sarah waved the information away. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any lands.”

“Have you forgotten your lessons so soon, Sarah? What’s said, is said. You said, in the very heart of my kingdom, the seat of my power, that your will was as great as mine,” here Jareth paused and leaned over her chair. He passed his hand over her mirror and the image changed to show the kingdom to the south of the Labyrinth.

“’ _And my kingdom as great_ ’,” Sarah groaned. “I was just trying to get Toby back.”

“You won the right to get Toby back the moment that you set foot in the Castle,” Jareth told her. It wasn’t a well-known fact as most people never ran the labyrinth in the first place, and those runners who did run and won their babes back, kept the knowledge to themselves rather than see the loss of the child to someone discovering that they’d managed to get the Goblin King to bend the rules a little. “The fact that you never gave up was what won you the right to have young Toby back as it is with any other runner who truly does not wish their child gone. What you did was declare yourself my equal and spurned my request for your hand in marriage.” That still stung, but he wasn’t going to let her know that. He was just here as a fellow ruler, letting her know what was happening; just as Alrik had done for him more than once – or so he told himself.

Sarah tucked this information away to contemplate later. She really did not have time now. “Where are Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus now?”

“They are on their way to your castle. They should reach there by nightfall.” Jareth conjured a crystal, which he turned into a hand mirror small enough to fit into her purse. He handed it to her and she took it, knowing that it would show her where Hoggle and the rest of her friends were. “What sort of charity dinner?”

“Something for a new children’s wing at the Josephine Wilhelm hospital, I think,” Sarah replied absently. Jareth managed not to start in surprise. Not only did he know of this particular charity dinner, he was going to be in attendance. Most people who knew the legend of the Goblin King and his Labyrinth never realized that the real reason he took the wished away children was because to the inhabitants of the kingdoms Below, a child was a thing to be cherished. An unwanted child was never a happy child and often not a healthy one, not to mention the children who were actively abused. He believed that all children deserved to be happy and healthy, with parents who cared for them. The wished-away children who were not won back, (not that he would ever allow an abuser to come out of his labyrinth alive much less with a child), were not changed into Goblins like so many of the tales said. He adopted them out to those who petitioned for the privilege. “You’d best be going then.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Below**

 

“Well, here we are,” Hoggle said, as they finally reached the castle. The castle gates were wide open, as if in welcome. The guard station, which as they had approached had been a rather standard, mortal sized tower, now changed into something similar to Didymus’ tree, although still made of stone, with several windows at differing heights and a small door at the base. “I’d guess that’s supposed to be your spot, Didymus.”

“Gladly will I take the post that our Lady has provided! Come, Ambrosius, let us explore our new home,” Sir Didymus said, and the elderly knight quickly dismounted and led his steed into the small tower.

“Hoggle, go,” Ludo said, and gestured into the castle grounds, before turning around. He dropped the pack that he’d been carrying on the ground and waved goodbye before wandering back out into the forest.

“Humf, well, guess the big guy doesn’t like castles,” Hoggle muttered to himself. For the moment he left the large pack where Ludo had dropped it, and headed inside the castle to do some exploring. Like any gardener worth his salt Hoggle started with the Keep, looking for the solar gardens. The most delicate plants would be grown there, those and those plants reserved the Queen’s pleasure. The castle’s kitchen gardens he could look for next.

What Hoggle found astonished him, although once he’d thought about it for a second, it made sense given Sarah’s rather generous nature with her friends. The solar gardens were right where he expected them to be. What he hadn’t expected was the small suite attached to the garden. It was just his size, and while sparsely furnished with a small bed, chest, chair and table next to the fireplace, the suite was very warm and cozy, with more than enough room to add anything he should wish for. With access to both the gardens and the castle it was perfect. He hurriedly set down his pack and set about planting the seedlings and starts that Jareth had sent with them.

 

**CASTLE BEYOND THE GOBLIN CITY**

 

Jareth returned to his rooms to prepare for that evening’s charity function. The dinner was to be followed by a dance. With Sarah in attendance some of the preparations that he had made for her assumption of her throne Below could be put in motion now, rather than later. “Jason, have you finished preparing Sarah’s Above identity?” he called.

Jason, Jareth’s cousin and personal servant, slipped into the king’s bedchamber. “Yes, sire. All of the background work is complete. Our little Aboveground kingdom now has a sister state and soon Lady Williams will be the sole heir. I've also arranged for the tutor. James Grimm is a wished-away scholar who normally lives Above teaching and encouraging mortals to Dream. He can help her learn about Below politics, geography, and so on as well as how to maintain an identity Above when one is a ruler Below.”

“Wonderful, we can begin to set things in motion tonight. She will be attending the charity dinner and I can allow others to believe that it is our first meeting,” Jareth told Jason.

Jason pulled out a resplendid charcoal grey Above suit and the accompanying items that went with it. It was far easier, even for his cousin, to wear suitable attire seeing as the poor man would be spending most of his time and energy keeping the lesser goblins hidden and out of mischief as well as holding a glamour over himself to as appear human and mortal. It made Jason very glad to be completely human himself, even if, living as he did Below his entire life, he was no longer mortal. Besides, from what he had seen of Above, being born below of wished away parents was a far better deal.

“That sounds like a workable plan. I’ve already altered the records and Linda William’s memory. Everyone now believes that she is a runaway princess who is estranged from her family. Publicly her royal family consists of a reigning father and a soon to be deceased brother and wife. That leaves you to be ‘astonished’ at how remarkable the resemblance is between Lady Sarah and her mother, an old childhood friend of yours,” Jason informed his king. Jareth grinned and whisked them both away to the Above and the charity dinner.

 

**ABOVE**

 

The date went better than Sarah had expected. Jonathan had turned out to be a computer gamer coerced into the date by his mother as well and they both commiserated over well-meaning, but ultimately clueless parents. It also helped that every time her thoughts turned to Hoggle, Didymus, or Ludo, she would catch glimpses of them in the reflections abounding the crystal adorned banquet hall. There were crystal glasses and centerpieces at the tables and chandeliers all over the hall. Whichever reflection caught her eye showed her Hoggle digging in the castle gardens, Ludo fishing in a stream, or Didymus puttering away in a set of small chambers.

It was when she saw the pitifully small dish of dog food that Didymus set out for Ambrosius, and the even smaller amount left after Didymus had served his faithful steed his dinner that she began making a mental list of what she could sneak out of her kitchen at home. There were things that she knew Karen wouldn’t miss, such as the small box of barley that had never been opened, and they had just bought Merlin a 50 pound bag of dog food. Enough to feed Ambrosius wouldn’t be missed until Sarah could buy more on her own.

Tomorrow was Saturday and Karen would be taking her and Toby shopping. She would be able to sneak in a few purchases when Karen wasn’t looking, and if they stopped at that health food store, she was sure that she could get some seeds as well. She really didn’t like sprouts all that much, but wheat seeds for sprouting made perfectly good seeds for growing grain. She was also sure that there were pots and pans stuck up in the attic that Karen had generously allowed to be set aside for Sarah rather than throwing them out when she moved in.

Jonathan interrupted her mental list making by inviting her to dance. Sarah agreed, and the two of them moved around the dance floor discussing the video game that Jonathan was currently obsessed with – a farming and mining game called Stardew Valley. Jonathan was glad to have someone asking him serious questions about the game and how it worked, but Sarah wasn’t interested in playing the game herself, or at least not just playing the game for its own sake.

The basic layout of the game and a few aspects of the game play were sparking her imagination. After all, if Jareth could command his Labyrinth to change at will, there were bound to be things that she could do to her kingdom as well – and a pocket sized farm in the mountains where you also mined sounded very much like something that would fit into her kingdom, especially considering the mines sounded rather like they could become a nastier version of Jareth’s labyrinth. Just as she decided that she would ask her father for a copy of the game, more to see how it worked and if there were more things that she could adapt, (she was already thinking about creating a wellness or energy giving spring based on the Bog of Eternal Stench and the spa from the game), Jareth cut in and swept her off in another direction.

“JARETH!” she hissed, keeping a smile on her face, although her eyes sparked with fury. “What are you doing?” The glamour he was wearing made him look mortal, but it didn’t fool her.

“Relax, Sarah, every ruler Below has an identity Above for various reasons. I was already attending this function before you told me you would be here as well. If anyone asks I’m asking you questions about your mother, Linda Williams, because you look very much like a childhood friend of mine,” Jareth reassured her.

“Now, when it comes to the Above all of the rulers Below help one another when possible, so I’ve arranged for the lands the Above believe me to have, to have a sister country and for your mother to be the estranged princess of that country. I’ve also had a tutor selected, one who was raised Below, but lives Above. He is a professor of mythology at one of the colleges in New York. He will begin teaching you what you need to know about how things are done and what you should not do. I’m not telling you this as an ultimatum, Sarah, but there are lines that it is best that none of us cross,” Jareth told her earnestly.

“There is one thing that you should know immediately, and that is if you do not populate your lands, eventually they will return to the Mists. A stable population is a requirement. The Goblin Kingdom has always welcomed unwanted children. How you decide to accept new citizens is your choice,” Jareth told her.

“That makes sense,” Sarah agreed, relaxing as she realized that Jareth was actually treating her as an equal in need of information rather than as a child needing to be told what to do. “Can this tutor teach me how to change things or make things or accept people for the Bright Mountains?” The name just slipped out of her, like she had always known what it was.

“No, but I can. That is a power that belongs only to the rulers of the various lands Below. For now, simply focus that will of yours on a single object and believe it to be something you wish for it to be. As for your particular gifts, the most important as the Queen of the Bright Mountains is that any mirror or reflection is yours to command. You may travel through them, use them to see anywhere or any time, and in time you may be able to use them to create illusions or even living creatures,” Jareth instructed. Internally he was pleased at Sarah’s reactions. He didn’t consider why. Before she could ask him anymore questions, he skillfully returned her to her date’s arms and lost himself in the dancing crowds.

At the end of the song, Jonathan led her back to their table, an awed look on his face. “Do you know who that was?” he asked.

“That’s King Jareth,” his mother told them both. “He’s the king of a small European country, and one of the few absolute rulers left in the world. What was he talking to you about, Sarah?” The look she gave Sarah was one of terrible curiosity.

“He wanted to know about my mother. Apparently I look a lot like a childhood friend of his,” she said simply.

“Could she be the one he’s looking for?” Mrs. Ames wanted to know.

Sarah could tell that Mrs. Ames was one of those people who religiously followed the activities of royalty around the world. She shrugged carelessly. “I don’t know. My mother never talked about her family, or much of anything before she met my dad. Besides, she’s an actress now and pretty famous. I’d guess that if she is the one King Jareth is looking for, it’d be pretty easy for him to find out.” They left the dinner and dance soon after that. The money that had been raised was announced and Sarah was not surprised at the sum as she would have been before Jareth had made his appearance. She was getting the idea that Jareth really did care about little kids.


	4. Chapter 4

ABOVE

Sarah hurried inside her house, and seeing no one around, into the kitchen. She grabbed a bag and filled it with the box of barley, a small bag of rice, a bag of rolls, several carrots and potatoes, an onion and a container of concentrated chicken broth. With a small bag of dog food in her other hand, she quietly sneaked into her room, and climbed up on her vanity. With this Hoggle would be able to make a thick chicken stew until she could get them more supplies.

Sarah was halfway through the mirror when she got caught. Karen, eager to hear the details of Sarah’s date after her friend Julia had called and told her about King Jareth’s dance with Sarah, walked into Sarah’s room without knocking and saw Sarah halfway inside of the mirror on her vanity. Naturally she screamed to high heaven and made a grab for Sarah’s ankle.

Robert, reacting to Karen’s scream, came running into Sarah’s room only to lunge and grab Sarah’s other ankle. Sarah pulled them with her through the vanity mirror and into her castle in the Underground. They both found themselves face down on the stone floor of the great hall, hands still on Sarah’s ankles, facing a misshapen dwarf and an elderly fox wearing clothes.

“What tis this, my queen?” the fox asked, pointing a miniature sword at them. “Doth these foul knaves attempt to harm thee? I shall hew their heads from their shoulders for this outrage!”

Robert and Karen scrambled back as Sarah dropped the bags in her hands and firmly grabbed the fox. “No, Sir Didymus! This is my father, Robert and his wife, Karen. I’m certain they were just trying to protect me. They didn’t know that I can travel through mirrors, or that I’m Queen of the Bright Mountains. Right now I need you to travel to my house Above and guard Toby.”

“At once, Your Majesty!” the little knight proclaimed, and hurried through the large standing mirror to the left of the throne.

“Sarah,” Robert started, as Karen just stared at Hoggle.

“This is where Mom’s from, Dad,” Sarah said. “Welcome to the Kingdom of the Bright Mountains.” She let that thought set in their minds, (and let them draw their own conclusions from it as well), and turned to Hoggle. “Here, Hoggle, I brought you a few things for the kitchens. It’s not much, but it should hold you over for the next couple of days. I’m planning on doing some shopping tomorrow, so I need to know what you and Didymus need right away. I saw that you were working in the castle gardens. Do you need any vegetable or grain seeds or anything?”

“Nope, I’ve got that covered. Jareth even sent some starts and seedlings for flowers and such. However, if you can get us some fruit tree seeds, I’d be grateful. I don’t want anything like that from Jareth’s Kingdom. It can be some really nasty stuff. I threw what he did give us of that over the cliffs,” Hoggle said with a huff. They both shuddered, remembering the nasty peach that Jareth had given Sarah during her run.

“I don’t blame you,” she agreed. “Karen, Dad, why don’t the two of you check out the castle while I go down with Hoggle to the kitchens. I need to make a shopping list while I’m here.”

Sarah’s parents agreed in a daze and she and Hoggle hurried off towards the kitchens. “Never tell them about my being one of Jareth’s runners, Hoggle. Jareth has it set up so that my mom was princess here and she abdicated her place in the line of succession, but with the rest of the family dead, I’m the only one left to become Queen of the Bright Mountains.”

“I’m no good with Aboveground politics, but I understand that much at least. I’ll make sure Didymus knows,” Hoggle agreed, as they both entered the castle kitchens. The room was huge, typical for a medieval castle, although the work table in the center was very short. There was a well in the center of the room and two large fireplaces on one wall. One wall had huge windows looking out over the courtyard and the other two were covered in shelves. There was a huge trap door in one corner of the floor and there was a large box full of firewood nearby, but otherwise the floor and walls were stone.

Sarah pulled a notebook and pen out of the purse she had slung over her shoulder as Hoggle emptied the bag of food on the worktable. “Ok, these two packages are grains that are ready to cook, and this jar has concentrated chicken broth. You’ll need to put that down in cellar. It needs to stay cold after it’s been opened. Add one spoonful to one or two cups of water, whatever tastes better to you. If you’re going to add any grains, add more water or the broth will get very strong tasting,” she instructed.

Hoggle nodded and bustled about, putting the small amount of supplies away. Sarah, looking around, began taking notes. Hoggle had a little camp kettle, but there were no pans and no stools his size, nor were there any dishes but the two small tin cups and two small spoons laid out on the table. There were baking ovens inside the fireplaces, rather like the pizza ovens she’d seen before, but the sink was primitive at best, and from what she could see there wasn’t any soap or detergent to wash the dishes with either.

“We’ll need flour, salt, oil, yeast, and honey to make bread,” Hoggle told her as he finished putting away the box of barley. “Butter wouldn’t go amiss, and eggs if you can get ‘em.”

“What else?” Sarah asked, scribbling down the beginnings of a grocery list.

“Hummm, I’d say grains for stews as we don’t have a grinder for cereals or flour. We’ll need vegetables. It’ll be three moons before our first harvest, so – potatoes, carrots, lettuce, peas, corn, onions, whatever you’ve got Above. I’ve got no talent with beasts, so milk, cream and meat will have to be bought, just not in large amounts. I can only make so much cheese at a time, and the meat will go bad if we have too much of it. I don’t have anything to make sausages or stuff.” Hoggle sighed. “I don’t have anything to make ale either.”

“Ok, I’ll see what I can do,” Sarah promised. “At least since my Dad and Karen know about this now I won’t have to hide my shopping from them. How about coffee or tea?”

“Don’t know what coffee is, but tea sounds real good,” Hoggle perked up at the mention. “I’ve got some herb plants but Ludo sat on the pack they were in and squashed most of them dead.”

Sarah winced, but really it wasn’t that surprising. Ludo was a sweetheart, but he was a very big beast, and she was sure that if he wasn’t careful he could be clumsy. “I saw him eating raw fish, is there anything I can get him?”

“Nope, rock callers are pretty sturdy beasts. As long as they have a cave they can use to get out of the weather when it rains and streams full of fish, they’ll be alright,” Hoggle explained. “Besides, I think he’s had enough of castles for now.”

Robert and Karen walked into the kitchen. “Sarah, where is everyone?” Robert asked, bewildered.

“This place is gorgeous, but it’s like a ghost town,” Karen said with a shiver.

“They’re out on the farms or down in the mines. There really hasn’t been a need for anyone to live here in the castle, so it’s just Hoggle, the Steward and Chief Gardner,” at this point Hoggle puffed himself up a bit in pride and bowed to his queen’s parents, “And you met Sir Didymus, Captain of the Guard. Once Jareth teaches me how to accept new citizens, I’ll get a larger staff here.”

“You mean, King Jareth, the one who danced with you tonight?” Karen stared in disbelief.

“Yes, his kingdom is just to the north. Would you like to see it?” Sarah asked, before leading the way to the battlements. “The Goblin Kingdom is surrounded by the king’s Labyrinth,” she said, gesturing towards the impossible maze just beyond the cliffs to the north.

“That play you are always reading,” Karen realized.

“Yes, mom gave it to me so that I’d learn about our closest neighbor. The story is a very old one, and tells about one of Jareth’s ancestors. I’m not sure just which one it was though,” Sarah told her. “Jareth has been trying to find Mom to tell her that Granddad was dying – is dead now, although that’s been kept quiet Above, and will be for the next four years. Above I have to be eighteen to take a throne, but here, I’m queen.”

“Because your mom wants nothing to do with this life,” Robert said bitterly. “Your grandfather must have been sick a long time. This place needs a lot of work.”

“Yes, Hoggle and Sir Didymus, well, you can see why they stayed, but there’s no one else here. Jareth’s arranged for a tutor for me, so I can learn about Below politics and stuff. Jareth’s going to teach me more about my abilities. There’s more than just making portals to and from the Bright Mountains apparently. There are things that only the royal families from this dimension can do, so he’s decided that he’ll be the one to teach me.” ‘There,’ Sarah thought. ‘That might make this whole, Above/Below thing a little easier on them. Neither of them believe in fairy tales, but science fiction is just stories about what hasn’t been discovered yet to them.’

“This is why you’ve been trying to be so reasonable the last couple of weeks,” Robert realized.

Sarah nodded. “Jareth tracked mom down to our house and found me when I was babysitting Toby. I’ve been getting to know Hoggle and Sir Didymus, and there’s a rock caller named Ludo that lives somewhere around the castle. I’m responsible for them, not just babysitting responsible, but life and death responsible. It was a big shock.”

“Well, one thing’s for sure, that kitchen needs a stove. Cooking over a fire can’t be good for either of them,” Karen said. “They’ll probably burn themselves or each other or something. We’ll check out a few antique stores when we’re shopping tomorrow to see if we can find something. I’d put a cook at the top of your list of potential new citizens. You can’t leave elderly bachelors alone in a kitchen.”

Sarah nodded. If they could find a stove that didn’t run on electricity or gas, that would be a good idea. Not that she thought Hoggle couldn’t handle cooking over a fire, because he’d obviously done so for years, but if she brought someone down that wasn’t a toddler, (and she didn’t think that making babies her citizens would be a good idea for a few years or more), than those people would need a good stove to work with.

“Do you use mirrors to make your portals?” Robert asked, wondering how they would get back home.

“Yes, I use the one in my room because it’s big enough for me to crawl through,” Sarah told him.

“I’ll see what I can do about getting you a bigger one. Crawling over your vanity all the time is asking for an accident,” Robert said. 

Sarah took one last look around her kingdom, noticing that several of the meadows were now surrounded by low hills, and took her dad and Karen back to the throne room. Standing in front of the large, ornate mirror next to the throne she had Karen, and then her dad, go through the mirror one at a time; then she followed. 

Back Above, she sent Didymus home after checking on Toby. The toddler had slept through the entire visit to the Underground and had no idea that the rest of his family had been gone. Karen’s reactions to Didymus, (with his Don Quixote attitude), was amusing, but Sarah was far too exhausted to do much more than wish everyone a good night before going to bed. Tomorrow would be time enough to deal with her dad and Karen knowing about the Bright Mountains.


	5. Chapter 5

ABOVE

Karen and Robert didn’t speak to each other after Sarah had left to go to her room. Karen was still mostly in shock over what had happened tonight, and her dealings with the little fox knight wasn’t helping any. The creature might as well have come straight out of the literature of her youth personality wise, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Don Quixote was actually crazy,” she finally said, once she was curled up with Robert in bed. “Do you think that little fox knight is too?”

Robert sighed. “No, just far too enthusiastic for his job, I think. I remember the one time that Linda talked to me about her parents. She said she was mostly raised by the help and they always took her safety too seriously. I’d guess now that she was talking about Sir Didymus.”

“You knew about this?” Karen demanded to know.

“Not the whole other dimension thing, no, but that Linda was a princess until she ran away from home? Yeah, she told me that once and refused to ever talk about it again. She has a habit of running from her problems,” Robert said, not eager to talk about his ex-wife.

“Will the fact that she’s alive, hurt Sarah’s taking over for her grandfather?” Karen wanted to know.

“No, once she’s run she never looks back. Besides, the actress life is working for her, why would she give that up?” Robert snorted. “She’s never even tried to contact Sarah, much less her parents or brother. He must be dead too, if Sarah’s now the queen.”

Karen giggled helplessly. “And here I was, trying to help her get somewhere in life.”

Robert chuckled as well. “I think she got a lot further than you were planning.” He sobered quickly. “We’re going to have to help her learn to run a country. Thank god King Jareth is getting her a tutor to teach her the politics over there.”

“Well, we can help her set up that castle better. Those poor creatures probably had to sell everything off just to survive until they could find Sarah,” Karen said sympathetically.

“They may not have had much to begin with,” Robert pointed out. “Coal miners are really poor, and if they haven’t had a king to sell their products to other countries, well they’d be stuck with just what they can produce themselves.”

“Well, we’ll start with getting that kitchen in shape,” Karen said firmly. “We can also move her hope chest things over there. She’s got a home to move into when she graduates from high school, she might as well start fixing it up how she likes it now.” With that resolution, Karen finally let go and drifted off to sleep.

 

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

 

The next morning Karen found Sarah sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop and taking notes. There were already a two plates of bacon and eggs waiting for her and Robert and a small bowl of scrambled eggs for Toby. An empty plate next to Sarah indicated that she’d already finished her own breakfast. “What are you doing?” Karen asked, as she set Toby into his high chair and gave him the scrambled eggs.

“I’m finding out how you make ale without any of the modern stuff. It sounds really simple; grains roasted in an oven, water, yeast, a big pot, a couple of plastic buckets with airlocks for the fermentation, a ladle, measuring cup and a spoon are all of the equipment necessary. I think I’ve got most of that in my hope chest and I can get a few food grade buckets down at the hardware store. The grain and the yeast I’m hoping to get at that New Age food store you like to go to,” Sarah said, consulting her notes. “I’ll probably have to get the airlocks for the buckets online though.”

“Ale?” Karen said faintly. She hadn’t thought that alcohol would be Sarah’s first concern.

“Hoggle and Sir Didymus drink ale, but they don’t have the supplies to make it right now,” Sarah said, not looking up. “Plus it takes a while to brew, so I need to get that started right away. If Hoggle can brew mead too, then we can use it for trade, I think. That stuff’s expensive, right?”

Karen realized that the situation must have been dire when it was thrust on Sarah two weeks ago if she was trying to figure out a way to make something to sell already. ‘Her grandfather’s illness must have been a long and debilitating one, and that sort of thing can bankrupt a family, much less a kingdom that depends on its rulers as much as that Underground place seems to,’ she thought. 

“You’re right, honey mead is expensive, but the most expensive part of that is the honey, I think,” Karen said slowly.

“Honey, white raisins, and yeast,” Sarah said, consulting her notes.

“Well, then. Find out if Hoggle or that little knight know how to raise bees. I know that Mr. Johnson raises bees in his backyard. You might be able to get some of the supplies and such from him,” Karen said. “He’s been looking for an assistant in his little honey business too, so you might get an after school job out of it if you ask nicely.”

“An after school job?” Robert asked as he entered the kitchen.

“I need some way to pay for the stuff that I need for the Bright Mountains, Dad,” Sarah pointed out. “If Mr. Johnson hires me to work in his bee yard, then I also learn about making honey, which Hoggle can use to brew honey mead, which we can sell. I might be able to trade the honey too. I know there are some creatures Below that prefer the honey itself.”

“I’m glad to see you’re thinking about this,” Robert said. “I’ve been thinking about that mirror you’re going to need, and I think I know how to go about it. Are the two of you going to need the van today?”

Sarah looked at Karen who nodded. “I think we’ll need it this afternoon,” Karen said. “If we can find a stove today, I want to be sure to get it, but we won’t hit the antique stores until after one or two.”

“Then I’ll get my errands done this morning,” Robert promised. 

 

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

 

Neither Karen, nor Sarah was expecting to find an extra-large patio door set up in the living room when they got back from grocery shopping. Robert was spraying the glass with a silver paint, and Sarah could see that when he was done the large door would become a large mirror. “Robert! That’s hideous!” Karen exclaimed.

Sarah set Toby down in his playpen and walked over to the mirror. “Don’t worry about that, Karen. I’ll take care of it.” She could already feel the mirror in the making calling her. Ignoring the scolding that her dad was getting from his wife, Sarah laid her hands on the edges of the new mirror, and focused her will on what the mirror should be.

Slowly the silvering grew down the back of the glass, and thickened until the entire surface of the new mirror was shiny and clear. Sarah stopped then for a moment, huffing a little from the effort. Focusing one’s will was harder than Jareth had made it sound like. Then she turned her focus to the mirror’s frame. Karen was right, the current frame was not acceptable under any circumstances. More rapidly than the glass had changed before, the mirror’s frame morphed from a wood and silver metal construction to a gleaming black metal. Once it was complete Sarah flicked her wrist and moved the entire mirror to an easily accessible corner of the room.

“That was a great idea, Dad. Thanks,” Sarah said. She hurried out of the room and out to the car. Returning shortly with her groceries, and ale/mead making supplies, she went straight through the mirror, leaving her parents to watch and wait for her return. 

“I’m not sure I’m ever going to get used to that,” Karen shuddered.

“Did she wipe out her savings?” Robert wanted to know.

“About half of it,” Karen admitted. “I bought a bunch of fruit and told her we’re going to have fruit salad with dinner. She can take the seeds and start an orchard over there with them.”

“Well, let’s get the groceries in, and I’ll start putting together that fruit salad. I may not be much of a cook, but at least I know how to chop fruit,” Robert said, turning to the next chore so as not to think too hard about the fact that his daughter had just cheerfully walked through the mirror that she had just changed with a touch of her hands.

 

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

 

Antique shopping turned out to be an eye opener for Sarah. Karen, as it turned out, was a bargain hunter, and most of the nice furniture and such that she had moved in to Sarah’s house had all been found in little shops like the ones she was currently introducing Sarah too.   
They had taken the van and headed straight to New York City, as Karen had informed Sarah that all of the best antique and thrift shops were there. In one thrift store Sarah found a rusty grain grinder for ten dollars and a battered, but still usable basin and ewer set for fifteen. The highlight of their trip though was the demolition/antique store that had over twenty wood burning stoves, both ones that you could cook on and ones that just heated a room.

The cook stove that Sarah fell in love with was several thousand dollars, so she turned her back on it in favor of the hardworking, basic stoves. They were a more reasonable five hundred or less, but Karen found the real bargain in a large box stove for fifty dollars. The salesperson explained that the reason the stove was going for so little was that because these stoves were still in production and usually sold for two hundred and fifty to four hundred dollars.

Sarah also saw a spinning wheel, which led to her taking notes all the way home about different ways she could think of to produce cloth, yarn and thread. Karen was surprisingly knowledgeable about different types of cloth, what they were made from, and what sort of cloth was best for what sort of weather and occasion. There were so many little things Sarah was discovering that she needed to think of that she was getting worried that she was going to forget something important.

Getting the stove through the mirror and down to the castle kitchens was a bit of an ordeal. Cast iron was not the easiest thing to move, even with one of her dad’s wheeled contraptions from the garage to help. Fortunately once it was in the kitchen itself, it was very easy to tip upright and set in one of the two fireplaces. Showing Hoggle and Sir Didymus how to use the stove was a bit of a struggle, mostly because of the their disbelief that it would work, but finally they were convinced after Sarah had cooked up their dinner using the stove.

Sir Didymus waxed lyrical on Sarah’s intelligence and generosity. Hoggle mentioned that it would be difficult to use the stove without something for him to stand on. “Don’t worry, that at least I’ve got covered. You two eat your dinner. I’ve got more things to bring down from Above,” Sarah said with a smile. 

Sarah went back Above and began moving her hope chest and the other things that she had collected for Below. The box of kitchen stuff was eagerly welcomed by Hoggle, as was the wooden stool that her dad’s mom had given her for Christmas one year. 

When Sarah was done bringing everything down to the castle that she was going to, Hoggle led her over to where he had set up the brewery. “You was right, Sarah, about mead being something we can trade with. I already started a batch with what you brought us. Jareth loves the stuff for one. He won’t drink ale, not that goblin ale is very good, but there are other royals around who will pay for a good mead too. The Queen of the Sprites though, her people want straight honey. If you can get us some bees, then I can raise ‘em for the honey and to make more mead.”

“I was hoping you’d say that Hoggle,” Sarah admitted. “Most of what we can trade will come from the mines. We’ll have coal and ores and gems eventually, and when I can get Jareth to tell me how to accept citizens, we’ll have food coming from the farms too, but for now it’ll be just what you and I can do.”

“Don’t you worry, Sarah. Everything’s going to work out just fine,” Hoggle insisted.


	6. Chapter 6

ABOVE

‘Mondays are still the worst day of the week,’ Sarah decided as she walked into Paul Revere High School and down the hall to her locker. She noticed, but decided to ignore the stares and whispers that were following her on her usual route. It was probably the usual gossip about her mother.

“Hey, celebrity, tell me all about your handsome king,” Beth Rollins teased as she opened the locker next to Sarah’s. “I hear he swept you off of your feet, right out of the arms of your date.”

“Oh no, is everyone talking about that?” Sarah asked, as she got out the book she would need for her first class.

“Yup!” her best friend said cheerfully. Beth was a tiny, blond slip of a girl that Karen despaired over Sarah being friends with. Her parents were local farmers and artists, and most of the town considered them to be hippies, despite the fact that they were far too young. She had an older sister, Rose, who was the picture perfect image of a Valkyrie, and was considered the best cook in town. Her baked good always sold out first in any bake sale the school put on. She also had a five year old little sister, Victoria, who was obsessed with their tiny farm’s animals and the fairy stories that Sarah would often tell her.

“After all, how often does one of our own get swept off her feet by one of the few real kings left in the world? I mean, King Jareth isn’t one of those kings that have to answer to a parliament or anything. He’s an absolute ruler, and there is only a handful, at most, of those left anymore,” Beth said, as they began making their way to class. “Of course everyone’s talking about it. Prevailing theory is that he wants to meet your mom.”

Sarah winced at that. Although it would have made a good excuse to get everyone to ignore her, in the long run it would be counterproductive. “Sort of,” she hedged. She pulled Beth into the bathroom and checked to make sure that they were alone. “King Jareth was friends with my mom before she married Dad. He’s looking for her to tell her that her dad is sick and not going to make it. The trouble is, my mom won’t go back; never in a million years. She hates the whole royalty thing; that’s why she ran away from home in the first place when she came to America and met my dad,” Sarah explained in a whisper.

“Uh oh,” Beth said, her eyes growing wide. “I can see the writing on that wall.”

“Yeah, me too,” Sarah admitted. “I’m hoping they come up with someone else, but I don’t see that happening. Hopefully it will be a while before I become crown princess, because I just got a job with Mr. Johnson, helping out with his bees. It’s an hour every day after school, and then five hours on Saturday. If they make me a princess too soon, I’ll lose that before I learn anything.”

“He’s a nice guy. We never have problems with him at the Farmer’s Market,” Beth said, as she glanced at her watch. “We’d better get to class, bell rings in a minute. Just remember, when the manure hits the fan, I’m standing right beside you.” With that, the two friends ran for their first class of the day.

 

BELOW

The Castle Beyond the Goblin City

 

“Interesting,” Jareth said. He and James Grimm were watching Sarah in one of Jareth’s crystal balls. “If the girl proves to be as loyal as she thinks she is, I do believe that she will be joining us Below. Do encourage Sarah’s thinking in that direction once the girl has proved herself.”

“As you wish, your majesty,” Grimm said, with a short bow. “This after school job, do you know why she has taken it?” The mythology and English professor was curious about his new student. To say that she was unique was a grave understatement. 

While Dreamers were common, all of them adding to the strength of the kingdoms already enshrined in legend, few were strong enough to create a completely new land. Most often a new land was created by those such as he – storytellers sent Above to spread tales of the new lands and get the details into the minds of those ordinary Dreamers by their king or queen to give a royal child a new land to rule over. When a new land was created by a single Dreamer, most often it faded into the Mists before anything could be done to stabilize it. 

On the rare occasions that a new land was stabilized before it could fade, that stabilization was done at the behest of the current rulers of the other Underground kingdoms. All of the royal families were of one mind in ensuring that there wasn’t a civil war on those few occasions that there was more than one royal child who wanted to rule. The very few wars between kingdoms that had happened in past millennium had made the reigning monarchs well aware of how costly such wars were, and that they were best prevented by any means necessary. Never before, (to James’ knowledge at least), had a Dreamer created a new land and then become its monarch – and Queen Sarah had created the Kingdom of the Bright Mountains and maintained it for a week before King Jareth had sent someone to stabilize the new kingdom.

“The Bright Mountains currently have a population of three, and she is using this job to both learn how to produce products to sell and trade at the Grand Market, and to support her citizens until they can support themselves,” Jareth said, stealing a glance at the storyteller. He wanted to know how one of the ordinary people of his kingdom saw Sarah and her choices, and even though no Bard was ordinary, they influenced a great many of the ordinary people.

“She is?” James was astonished. “Honorable and willing to labor on their behalf; she is extraordinary. It’s no wonder she actually made it to the castle during her run.” He thought for a moment. “It’s no wonder that she ran at all. She must have felt terrible once she realized that we would actually take the child, and of course the legends always say that you turn the wished-aways into goblins, rather than the truth.”

“Yes,” Jareth agreed. “Children often say things in haste, and hopefully I’ve gotten her to realize that she really must keep watch on what she says, but I’ve never encountered a Dreamer with the strength of will that she has.”

“Beg your pardon, your majesty,” a servant bowed his way into the royal study. “But it’s time for court.”

“Yes, yes, be gone with you,” Jareth sighed, waving the servant away.

“Upper court or lower court?” Grimm asked in sympathy.

“Upper, more’s the pity,” Jareth snarked. “The lower court means that I have goblins who actually bring me real problems to solve, even if it is who took who’s chicken. Upper court complaints are so boring. All the nobility seem to do is whine at me.”

With a sigh, Jareth stood up from his desk and changed his clothing with a quick crystal. “Do make yourself at home here, Grimm. I want to keep track of Sarah’s progress, and there are several histories that you can use as a reference here. Most are written in book form, but the Dragon’s Wasteland history is on the largest scroll. You might need some help with that one.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” James said, as Jareth vanished. He honestly meant his thanks. The Goblin Kingdom might be home to some of the worst sorts of chaos makers in the Underground, but Jareth was known to have one of the best libraries in the local kingdoms. That was what had persuaded him to accept this tutoring assignment. However, the more he learned about Queen Sarah, the more he was fascinated by the young lady. She was either going to be a joy to teach or the worst, headache inducing student he’d ever had the misfortune to face. He couldn’t wait to get started.

 

ABOVE

 

By Friday Sarah had been stung half a dozen times, but she was finally getting the hang of working with bees. It was actually starting to be kind of fun. Mr. Johnson was pleased with how quickly she was picking up what he had to teach her, and tonight was the first time she was going to get paid for watching Toby. Best of all, Karen had completely backed off criticizing Sarah and was actually being very helpful in helping her figure out what she needed to help Hoggle and Sir Didymus. Before she had run the Labyrinth, Sarah would have simply taken this run of good luck as her due and thought no more about it. However she was now far more aware that life was rarely fair, and she was just waiting for the next disaster to strike while attempting to enjoy what little peace and quiet she could get before the crap hit the fan.

Rounding the corner of the block where Sarah’s house stood, her heart sank. It seemed that the crap had arrived. Every neighbor on their block was outside on their lawns watching the limo with official state flags parked in front of her house. She could see that the flags were white with a vague blue and green crest in the middle. She could also see that they were glamoured so that no one would look too closely at them. This had to be her Underground tutor, presumably setting up her identity Above for Jareth. ‘Well, you knew this was coming,’ Sarah told herself. “Come on, feet,” she muttered as she resumed her trip home.


	7. Chapter 7

**ABOVE**

 

The politics of the Underground were going to drive Sarah crazy; so crazy that she was extremely grateful to have Professor Grimm as her tutor for the next four years. The man seemed to know everyone who was anyone in the Underground, most of their families, and who was allies or enemies with who. What he didn’t know he could find out, as he had demonstrated by having one of Jareth’s more intelligent goblins bring him a huge scroll that when rolled open, covered the entire kitchen table when they were going over the way the Dragon Kingdom was ruled. Personally Sarah thought that the Dragons were very strange, but being very large carnivores who tended to have very solitary lives, she could see why they had set up their government the way that they had.

The one thing that she panicked over learning was that she was expected to host a royal ball when she turned sixteen. “It’s a coming out ball, and it is for presenting you and your kingdom to the rest of the Underground,” Grimm patiently explained.

“But there’s no way I can host a ball!” Sarah protested. For one thing she hadn’t a clue where she would put guests who weren’t at least a little Human like. She couldn’t put the Queen of the Unicorns in a stable, nor did she have a clue if she even had enough room for a single dragon, much less a delegation. And as much as she liked the goblins, the idea of having a bunch of them in her castle was enough to put her stomach in knots. She didn’t have enough things there that she could dismiss the sort of damage that they could create in a single afternoon.

Karen patted her hand. “Don’t you worry. We have just over nineteen months to plan for it, and I’m sure that Professor Grimm here can help with all of the planning. We’ll have to save up, and get some trade going outside the Bright Mountains for the things we’ll need that we can’t get here, but it’s doable, especially since we have the warning well ahead of time,” Karen reassured her. She was making dinner while Sarah studied with Professor Grimm at the kitchen table. It was the only place in the house that had a table large enough to handle all of the scrolls and books that the professor was using to tutor Sarah on the royalty of the Underground.

“Why can’t we put it off until I’m eighteen? I’ll be moving Underground then, or at least living there most of the time while I go to college, and I’ll be an adult then. Wouldn’t letting the rest of the Underground know that I’m underage be inviting someone to try and take over as a regent or something? I mean, I know I have to rule the Bright Mountains myself. I can’t let anyone else take over or try and make the Bright Mountains what they want my kingdom to be instead of what I want it to become. So shouldn’t I keep dealing with the other rulers to a minimum until I’m eighteen?” Sarah asked.

Grimm shook his head. “Actually no,” he told them. “Rumor has already spread far and wide about your ascending to the throne of the Bright Mountains, due to the current tragedy of your family’s situation, and thus everyone is already aware that you are a minor. That’s the reason that your father has to be the one to present you at the ball, even though he, himself has no connection to your realm. Not only will you be letting the Underground know that your kingdom is open for business so to speak, beyond getting a single booth at the Grand Market, at sixteen you will be of courting age. I’ve heard that there have already been a few offers for your hand in marriage, but your Steward has been very stern with the messengers, letting them know that you will not be going against custom and considering such offers before your sixteenth birthday.”

“Well thank goodness for Master Hoggle! The very idea of asking a fourteen year old to get married!” Karen huffed.

Sarah carefully studied the scroll in front of her. The last thing she wanted Karen to learn was that Jareth had already asked and that she’d turned him down, even if she hadn’t known what it was he had been asking at the time.

Grimm smiled. “Such betrothals are years in the brokering and the betrothal period itself is traditionally rather long, so her highness wouldn’t be a child when the wedding itself took place, and as a queen in her own right, she would have every right to break any betrothal as she sees fit,” he explained. “But there are quite a few unwed princes in several realms without a finalized betrothal, and their parents will be quick to place her highness in consideration for their sons.”

“Meaning that they want my kingdom, not me,” Sarah pointed out, sourly.

“No ruler of the Underground wants any of the kingdoms to be unstable,” Grimm explained. “Wars happen that way, and an unwed ruler with no heir, or at least one who is not publicly considering potential consorts, is seen as one step away from letting their kingdom become unstable. Unlike here Above, we Below tend to be more civilized about such things as avoiding wars whenever possible.”

“So this is as much cultural as political,” Robert said, as he carried Toby over to his high chair. “Most of these rulers are more concerned about how Sarah acts, rather than wanting to acquire her kingdom for themselves or their children.”

“Precisely, you see it is actually much easier for the ruling families to create new lands, rather than conquering established kingdoms, although there are several lands that do have a warrior culture,” Grimm explained. “In fact, if your highness were to accept the proposal from an established ruler or the heir to the throne of another land, neither of you would be giving up your kingdoms, nor would your lands merge into a single realm. You and your spouse would be expected to produce two children, either by adoption or by blood. Each child would become crown prince or princess, one to each of their parent’s thrones.”

“And if I don’t want to marry someone from Below?” Sarah asked, rather desperate to escape the entire thing.

“Oh that is perfectly acceptable,” Grimm said easily. “The main thing is that you are seen to be actively searching for a way to produce an heir in some fashion, thus the ball. No one wishes to ally with a realm that will soon descend into chaos, or worse return the Mists.”

“No allies, no trade agreements,” Sarah said, despair settling into her heart.

“The current Grand Duchess of the Grand Market will not even agree to allow your Steward access to a booth for selling your kingdom’s wares, much less agree to host formal trade negotiations if she believes that you are not searching for ways to make the Bright Mountains a more solid kingdom,” Grimm agreed. “All trade Below first goes through her realm, either through providing neutral ground for negotiations or through providing booths for wares to be sold in the Grand Market itself.”

“What about now? I mean, Hoggle and I are already planning to get a booth there to sell honey mead, honey and a few ores from the Bright Mountain’s mines,” Sarah asked, worried that all of her plans were going to fall through simply because she wasn’t even old enough to look like she was searching for a boyfriend, not that she wanted one in the first place right now.

“Those are really good choices for wares,” Grimm praised as he began to gather up the books and scrolls. “Her Grace will be more than willing to give you a booth in return for some mead for her personal use. It’s her favorite drink, and if the mead is of exceptional quality or unusual flavor, she might even give you two booths, one for the mead and honey and one for the ores. Right now due to Steward Hoggle and his efforts with those betrothal offers, everyone is willing to accept that you are working to solidify your realm, and that you will be willing to consider such offers when you are finally of courting age.”

“Alright everyone, dinner is ready,” Karen announced.

 

LABYRINTHLABYRINTHLABYRINTHLABYRINTHLABYRINTHLABYRINTHLABYRINTHLABYRINTH

 

“A royal ball? Are you kidding me?” Beth wanted to know. Beth and Sarah were in the school library. Their school was participating in the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, and both girls had opted to not take the test. They were however, required to be in the room while the test was being taken. So they were sitting at their table with their laptops, quietly talking about Sarah’s newest royal dilemma.

“No, it’s a whole political and cultural thing, but Beth, I don’t know how to host a ball!” Sarah worried.

“That’s not a problem, it’s just a really big, better prom, that’s all,” Clarisse whispered across the table. She was a cheerleader and one of the girls who were trying to make friends with Sarah now that she was the crown princess of her own country.

Sarah turned a steely eyed gaze back at the cheerleader. “I did not ask for your opinion,” she stated coldly. “You have work to do that does not include this conversation. I suggest that you return to it.” The fact that she was quoting one of her mother’s roles was incidental. Sarah meant every word. She hated the fact that because everyone at the school now knew about her becoming the crown princess everyone that had once ignored her was now trying to suck up to her in various ways.

The absolute worst was when the captain of the football team had asked her out. Rose had warned her ahead of time about the boy’s plan to make himself famous or rich or even both. Rose had found out about it because her boyfriend Chet was a member of the football team, and the boy had bragged about his ‘foolproof’ plan in the locker room. Sarah had turned him down flat, furious that he had even made the attempt.

“Twit,” Sarah said, as she turned back to Beth. “As if a royal ball for any reason is even close in nature to a high school prom.”

Beth giggled in agreement. “Karen should be able to do a lot of the planning though,” she said. “She’s really good at organizing things, and you do have over a year to get things set up. How’s the meadery coming?” she asked, knowing that Sarah would continue to panic if she didn’t get her mind off of the ball.

“Really good, actually,” Sarah admitted. “The Steward of the castle has already brewed a few batches of mead and Dad has told me that they are drinkable and that bottles from those batches should be ready to sell in four to six months.” Sarah smiled. Robert had readily agreed to be Hoggle’s taste tester. “The Steward even told me that the batches of ale that he’s made have sold well at the market in Jareth’s capitol city.”

Currently Jareth was simply looking the other way when Hoggle snuck back into the Goblin Kingdom with ale to sell. Goblins drank ale at every opportunity and Hoggle had been able to trade for some smoked meat and wooden barrels. The small barrels would be used in the meadery. The smoked meat had been stored away for the winter months. Hoggle had been one of the main gardeners for the Labyrinth and was well aware of just how much food he would have to grow to keep those living in the castle alive over the coming winter. Sarah could get them more food from Above, but Hoggle was a pessimist. If anyone else moved into the Bright Mountains, he wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t cause a strain on their food supply.

Sarah groaned and slumped in her seat. Thinking about Hoggle and the food supplies just reminded her about the ball once more. What in the world was she going to use to feed all of these royal guests? 


	8. Chapter 8

BELOW

Castle Beyond the Goblin City

The Grand Duchess of the Grand Market peered into one of Jareth’s crystals. “She’s not much to look at,” she remarked, hoping to get a rise out of the Goblin King.

“She’ll be a beauty when she’s grown, but the really remarkable thing about her is her will. She’s the strongest Dreamer I’ve ever seen or heard of,” Jareth snapped. “She may even be on par with the Ancient Dreamers from the Beginning.”

The Duchess smiled. She agreed with Jareth’s assessment of the girl, but the way he had defended her. “You’re courting her,” she stated with a smile. “That’s why you sent those three to her lands, and continue to let that gnome back to your market to trade his ale.”

“Of course not!” Jareth protested, but then he admitted. “She turned me down flat. All I’m doing is helping a fellow ruler to stabilize her realm.”

“And she’s actually working on that?” the Duchess asked, distracted for a moment.

“She’s working on her Above education, going to a ‘after school job’ to labor for her citizen’s benefit, and then returning to her home to study what she needs to learn as ruler of an Underground kingdom. If she was working any harder, she’d probably pass out from exhaustion,” Jareth said with a sigh.

The Grand Duchess reached out to pat his hand. She appeared to be a mortal woman, with a true hourglass figure, dressed in a court gown of the finest silk. Fortunately she was no more mortal than Jareth was, because mortals needed sleep to function and that would have interfered with her need to keep up with what was going on in the Underground. “Well, you’re not the only one she’s turned down. That gnome of hers has spread the word, the Queen of the Bright Mountains will not consider any proposal until her sixteenth birthday. So there is hope for you yet,” she said brightly. She truly hoped that this girl would accept Jareth’s proposal when the time came. The Goblin Kingdom was very old, and well established, but Jareth’s single state had been a concern to her. The Goblins were always on the edge of chaos. Everyone else believed that he would take one of the wished aways as his heir, but no heir had yet been chosen, and so she was most encouraged by this new development.

“Perhaps,” Jareth agreed, grudgingly. He hated to admit that Sarah had turned him down, but at least she hadn’t accepted anyone else’s proposal. There was also the fact that she hadn’t known what he was asking. He should go see his mother and ask her advice. He was apparently a little too Goblin to have made himself understood. She would know what to do, and she would make a good advisor to Sarah, if the girl agreed to it.

The Grand Duchess took her leave, giving Jareth a knowing look and word of encouragement before shadow walking back to the Grand Market. Jareth sighed after she was gone and threw himself out the window. Quickly changing to his owl form, he flew out over the Labyrinth, searching for the small clearing where his mother, the Dowager Goblin Queen, now lived. For him, it wasn’t hard to find. Jareth had spent every summer at the cottage, a break from court life that his mother had insisted on. He’d been more than grateful, and it was simply one more thing that had shown just how wise his mother was.

Landing on a tree branch, Jareth saw his mother taking an afternoon tea while watching a group of fairies fly among her flowers. “You’ll get bitten if you let them stay,” he remarked, dropping from the branch and landing on the lawn. He took the seat opposite her, and accepted the cup of tea that she handed to him.

“Of course they bite, it’s their only defense,” the Dowager Queen pointed out. “I don’t let them breed too much, there’s no point in allowing that, but I see no reason to try and kill them all simply because they bite. Besides, I like to watch them fly from flower to flower. Now tell me what’s wrong.” She dared him to try and lie to her. She knew him as only a true mother could, one who had dried her child’s tears and praised their victories.

Jareth sighed. He’d never been able to get away with anything when his mother was on watch, and she was watching closely now. So he simply explained the situation as succinctly as he could. When he came to the end the Dowager Queen sighed. “Oh you botched that up but good, didn’t you, Jareth. Well, you didn’t do any worse than your father, so there is hope. Let’s see what we can salvage of your relationship with your lady love.” 

 

ABOVE

 

Karen and Robert came home to find Toby asleep in his playpen and Sarah speaking to a strange looking man seated on the couch. “Ok, they have to make the choice twice – once when they say their right words, and once when I give them the option to remain here,” Sarah said, as she paced in front of the couch. She knew Jareth wouldn’t take Toby again, but there was a small lingering doubt that made her keep him close.

“Correct, then simply bring them through the mirror. Once they have arrived you’ll have to remove any traces that they were once Above, unless you leave everyone Above with the belief that your new citizen left of their own free will. Naturally, that second option is closed to me, but it is open to you,” Jareth said, lounging back against the couch.

“What if they’re from Below?” Sarah asked, as she turned and saw her parents. “OH, hey guys. Toby went down about an hour ago. His tooth finally broke through, and he’s exhausted. All he wanted to eat was the frozen fruit I mashed up for him.”

“Well, we’ll get him up to bed,” Karen said, picking Toby up and making sure he didn’t wake. “I know you have your lessons, but don’t stay up too late. You have work tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Sarah. We’ll see you in the morning,” Robert said, with wary glance at Jareth. He may not have recognized Jareth, but the conversation he was having with Sarah left no doubts as to his identity. This was the Goblin King who had found Sarah in his search for Linda, and whom had agreed to tutor Sarah in the royal aspects of her abilities. The two adults carried their son off, not wanting to interrupt Sarah’s lessons on reigning a country Below.

“She doesn’t seem to be so bad,” Jareth remarked, once the couple had retired to the second floor.

Sarah smirked. “She’s not, now that she knows I’m the queen of an entire country. She has this thing, where if you’re not trying to be at the top of society or get to the top, then you’re doing something wrong. She’s honestly being a big help now though. I never thought she would, but she’s really great about driving me around and helping find things I need for my castle.”

Jareth smirked back. “Unfortunately there are many more like her both Above and Below, some of them quite genuine in their attempts to help anyone so unfortunate as to not believe that gaining access to a throne is the end all of achievements. Now, as to accepting a new citizen from Below, they – or their rulers in the cases of a few trouble makers like your friends – will petition your Steward for you to examine each case and make your decision as to whether or not the applicant is acceptable to you. I take it you have some candidates?”

Sarah sat down on the couch next to Jareth. He straightened up and leaned in, becoming serious as he observed the sorrowful look on Sarah’s face. “Yes, I do. My best friend’s older sister is really having trouble with her family over her boyfriend. Usually it would all blow over when both sets of parents realize that they really love each other and refuse to give each other up. That’s not the case with Rose and Chet. His family is military through and through, while her family is as pacifistic as it is possible to be. I just heard from Beth that there have been some serious threats made with the intention of separating Rose and Chet. 

"I know it would be easy for me to help them get away, and I honestly do want to help them, but being honest, Rose is the best cook I know. What she can do with the simplest of ingredients amazes me. Plus, she was raised on a farm, so her parents have been teaching her how to set up her own farm for years. I need a cook for the presentation ball that’s capable of doing amazing things and I need a working farm. I can’t earn enough money to keep everyone going on my own. Chet on the other hand, has been hunting and fishing forever. Plus, I can make him Sir Didymus’ squire and Didymus can teach him how to fight off the monsters that are in my mines to protect anyone going down there to get ores or gems, which we really need as well,” Sarah sighed.

“Acquiring them as new citizens does sound as though it will solve several problems at once,” Jareth admitted. “Well, that is a simple enough task. The most difficult part will be in bringing their things Below.” He moved his hands in the gesture that Sarah was becoming intensely familiar with and produced two crystals. These he gently tossed at her and two large bags fell into her lap. “These are a type of bag that have become very popular in the last thirty years or so. It will hold anything that you can fit into the mouth and never weigh more than it does now. There is no end to the amount you can put into it. A nice bit of magic, if I do say so myself,” he said with a grin.

“Ok, now you said that I should be able to use my mirrors to travel to other times? What did you mean by that? Can I use it to travel to a specific place and time and then travel back to my specific time?” Sarah asked, leaning forward like a hound on the hunt.

Jareth sensed that she was making plans to get her new cook and squire to the Bright Mountains. “You cannot double yourself. You can travel to say, the park where I first saw you, to this morning, but when you tried to return home, you would come back to the moment you left. Do remember that it is always easier to travel Above or Below in that fashion,” Jareth warned.

“So, travel Below, back Above to a specific point in time, go back Below and return Above to my starting point?” Sarah said, working out what Jareth was saying.

“Yes,” Jareth agreed. “That would be the safest way to do it. You cannot manipulate time as I can. That is a gift only given to the Goblin King or Queen. However with your mirror travel, you should be able to do something similar.”

“Let’s try this,” Sarah said, eager to try out the new skill.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My writing program has gone the way of the dodo bird, so I've been very limited on what I can write. So please accept my apologies for any thing wrong with this chapter. I have no spell check, no word count, and no beta to check these things for me. If you find a mistake, please let me know so that I can correct it.

The entire plan was a desperate gamble, and Chet was all too aware of it. If it wasn't for his and Rose's parents determination to separate them, (all due to their differing ideology instead of the merits of the young people themselves), Chet would never have gone along with it. But his choices were down to; dropping out of school, getting his GED and trying to support himself and Rose on his own, or going along with his parent's plan of sending him off to a military boarding school and never seeing Rose again, or accepting Princess Sarah's offer of moving to the Bright Mountains as part of her personal staff, with Rose becoming a cook and Chet becoming part of the royal guard. At least accepting Princess Sarah's offer meant that he and Rose would have dependable jobs for the foreseeable future, and Rose had said that Sarah had mentioned an abandoned farm near the royal castle that was now crown property - something that Chet knew Rose wanted.

"I still can't belive the two of you are doing this," Dean, Chet's best friend said, as he pulled the truck into the high school parking lot. The school was having a dance which would cover Chet and Rose's escape from their parent's control. 

"You were one of the witnesses to us getting married this morning," Chet pointed out dryly. "Why would you think we would back out now?"

"Besides the fact that it's completely crazy?" Dean asked, as he pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. He handed the cash over to Chet, who looked at him confused. He had already sold his truck to Dean and gotten the money for it. There was no reason for Dean to be giving him more money now. "Here, I know you've sold everything you possibly could, but more cash can only help you two get started. I know you're going to need to replace things you can't take with you on the plane."

"Thank you, Dean. We weren't expecting this. You've done so much to help us already," Rose exclaimed - and Dean had. Dean had been the ones to help them sell off their stuff, collect all of their money, pack what they could into four suitcases, take them to get married, and had bought Chet's truck, not to mention driving them to the school to meet with Princess Sarah and her people.

"Hey, what can I say? You two deserve better than what your parents are doing, and I can always earn more," Dean dismissed his help.

"Thanks man," Chet said simply. He got out of the truck and handed Rose down, before grabbing the two heavier suitcases. Rose grabbed the last two and the two of them headed into the school - and into their future.

 

BELOW

Sarah had dressed in the finery that Jareth and Jareth's seamstress had created to be her formal, acting as the Queen of the Bright Mountains, outfit. She had gone Below to dress and was now sitting on her throne waiting for Chet and Rose to get to the high school. She was also looking over immigration petitions while she waited. "Why would so many people want to move here?" she asked Hoggle, who had assembled the petitions for her.

"Well, the dwarves are the easiest to explain," Hoggle said. "The Bright Mountains are brand new, and no dwarf I ever heard of could resist the chance to explore and possibly mine a new set of mountains. The first 22 petitions are from one single dwarf family, a couple and the sister of the wife, and all of their kids, grand-kids, and a couple of really small great-grand kids. They aren't expecting any sort of luxury either. I threw out more than a few petitions after the initial interviews because of that, but Master Miner Damrin Treasurebraid and his family are more than willing to endure a little hardship to get their hands dirty in your mines now and earn the rewards later."

"Early bird gets the worm, huh?" Sarah said with a smile.

"Yep, and even better, some of those kids and grand-kids have skills that we're going to need in the long run. There's the usual amount of miners and blacksmiths, but there is also a healer, a brewer, a scribe, a weaver, two dyer/cloth-makers, and a chandelier as well. The way you have the mines set up," and Hoggle glanced at the crown made with diamonds, emeralds, silver, and other colored stones he couldn't name that had been crafted to look like a living mountain sitting on Sarah's head, "We should have things to sell at the Grand Market within a week or two once they settle in. That is, if you think they'll make good citizens," he added with a blush.

"I think you've made a good choice, Hoggle," Sarah said with a laugh. "Remember, I'm counting on you as Steward to bring me good candidates. I'm hardly going to throw out your first choices without even looking at them." She looked through the pile of parchment in her hand and realized that most of it was the family that Hoggle had just mentioned. "What about the rest of these?" she asked, holding up the last five petitions.

"All of those are farmers," Hoggle said. "According to the stewards of the lands they come from, none are criminals or have bad tempers, they just want farms of their own and they can't get them where they're from, mostly because they're younger children and don't have a way to earn the land on their own. Finding a new land with farmland to farm for the ruler in return for earning their own farms is their best bet. Honestly, I think all of them are like your friends from Above, with sweethearts they can't marry until they can prove to their sweetheart's parents that they can provide for them and any children they might have. It's a common enough problem for young people."

"Well, they'll have to live here in the castle because the only farm I've got ready is the one I'm giving Rose and Chet. It won't be hard to set up a royal farm for them to work on though, and they can build their own farms once that's going," Sarah mused, looking over the petitions. She was glad to see that the farmers all had listed the farm items that they were willing to pledge to her service - such as the first born litters/animals of the animals they were bringing and half of the plants from the seeds they were bringing. She had no problems with them saving some of that for themselves. In fact, she was planning on having Rose take a lot more from her family's farm than Rose knew about. Sarah smiled faintly thinking about the bags that Jareth had given her.

Sarah glanced up at the mirror beside her throne and saw that Chet and Rose had finally entered the high school. She had told them to meet her across from the library, which was well away from the gym where the dance was being held. "I've got to go, Hoggle. I want to see all of the petitioners here when I return, along with a map of the Bright Mountains and your records so that I can give the land grants."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Hoggle said bowing, without a single ounce on mockery.

"Thank you, Hoggle," Sarah said, and kissed him gently on the forehead, before moving through the mirror with Professor Grimm beside her.

"Well, can't stand around like a toadstool, I got work to do," Hoggle muttered to himself as he blushed bright red. He hurried off to do his queen's bidding.

 

ABOVE

The first hint that things were not going to go as they had expected was seeing Sarah wearing a formal dress and an actual crown. It was shaped to look like a mountain, with diamonds for the snow pack, emeralds for the green of trees and other plants, something brown for the ground and something blue for the water in lakes and streams. She hadn't expected Sarah to be wearing a formal outfit though, and it made her even more nervous than the tall man standing next to the princess, although she supposed she should have expected it. What they were going to do did require some formality, after all. Having reassured herself, Rose set down her suitcases and curtsied before Princess Sarah. Chet followed her lead and bowed as he set his own set down.

"Do you wish to serve me and dwell in the Bright Mountains?" Sarah asked formally.

"Yes, your highness," Rose and Chet chorused, holding hands. If anything was to go wrong with their plan, it would be now.

"Life in the Bright Mountains is not easy, and should you make this oath, you will be mine forever," Sarah warned. "Is this truly your wish?"

"Yes, your highness," Chet said, glancing at Rose. "My wife and I wish to make our lives in the Bright Mountains as your subjects."

Sarah turned to Rose. "With your permission, your highness, the Bright Mountains will be our new home," Rose said solemnly.

"Then take my hands," Sarah said, and once they had, she pulled them through the reflection of the trophy cases behind her. "Welcome to the Kingdom of the Bright Mountains."


	10. Chapter 10

One of the things that Sarah had asked about in her studies with Professor Grimm was what the general living requirements were for each of the races that she was learning about. That had allowed her to set up several floors of her castle with various types of guest accommodations. That was where the current petitioners were staying. The livestock that the five farmers had brought, (along with everyone's wagons, personal items, and supplies), were carefully housed in the stables along the castle's outer walls.

Hoggle hurriedly gathered all of the petitioners, (and Didymus), and brought them to the throne room in the main keep. There, Sarah was just sitting down on her throne as two Above grounders were staring in shock in front of the great mirror. Their expressions were so like Sarah's own parent's reaction to mirror travel that Hoggle dismissed it, and concentrated on getting them, and everyone else, into a reasonable queue. He also noticed, but ignored, the royal tutor standing next to the great mirror with four squarish things on the floor in front of him.

Hoggle was proud of Sarah, listening at her side to her careful discussion with Master Treasurebeard, which covered such things guilds, taxes, housing and Sarah's firm insistence that the mines themselves were crown property. She further impressed him when she held the same discussion with each senior craftsman or woman of each craft. She could have just talked with Master Treasurebeard as the head of his family. Hoggle carefully noted everything that had been agreed upon in his record book.

Then came the five young farmers, human boys scarcely older than Sarah herself, and Hoggle spread out the map of the kingdom he had made. On it were the major landmarks, such as the castle, the lakes and streams, the healing and energy hot springs, and two farms - one large and one small. The large farm would become the major source for food for the castle and was, for now, nothing more than an overly large meadow where Hoggle kept his bees. The small farm had a small stone cottage and would be given to Rose and Chet. Hoggle gestured Rose forward, and introduced her as the new castle cook. 

The first thing that Rose asked about was the appetite and food requirements of Dwarves. Once Hoggle had told her that, and his own and Didymus' needs, the girl pulled out paper and pen and worked at some figures. Hoggle could see that it involved food, and she was questioning the farm lads about what they would have to offer for the castle's farm, but he had no idea just what it was that she was figuring. After about ten minutes, she wrote down a list on a final piece of paper and handed that to Sarah. "This is what we'll need to feed everyone for one year, Your Majesty," Rose said. "I don't know how much of that we'll be able to grow or produce ourselves this first year, because the first harvest is always the smallest, but we need to have that much food from harvest to harvest. We should also try to store enough for two years in case of a harvest failing once we can do so."

For a moment Sarah looked overwhelmed, but then the determination and iron will that Hoggle had come to know stiffened her spine. "With the miners working the mines, and the other craftsmen and women working their crafts we will have things to trade for food at the Grand Market. I met with the Grand Duchess yesterday, and we will have a booth once a week for the next three months. It's spring now, and we'll have time to establish all of your farms. Until your homes and other necessary buildings are built, you and your animals will live here in the castle. In fact, unless we have a large population explosion among the animals, you won't need to stable them at your farms until next year at the earliest." 

The farmers all looked relieved to hear that, and the eldest, and apparent leader, quickly began the same discussion with Sarah that the Dwarves had - taxes, amount of farmland to be granted to each farmer, how much work per week and for how long on the castle's farm to pay for that land, and what they could produce for the Grand Market. Or at least, that was how the farmers had thought the discussion would go - instead, Sarah proposed a remarkable plan, one that Hoggle was sure would bring more such farm lads flocking to petition for citizenship in the Bright Mountains. In exchange for two days of work a week on the royal farm, each farmer would be given the right to try and meet the conditions for gaining a land grant of 40 acres. For the space of five years, a farmer would live and work on the land; building a home, (complete with a kitchen, {minimum definition being a stove, sink and a place to store food}, living area and one window), a barn to house at least one animal, a sanitary waste disposal area, a root cellar that would connect to the mines, five food producing trees or bushes, and a crop field that measured at least 50 feet by 50 feet in total. At the end of five years, should this list be complete, then the farmer would receive the land grant. If the conditions were not met, then the land would revert to the crown.

"If any of you should know someone who might be willing to become domestic staff here at the castle, you might mention to them that there are positions open," Sarah said as she signed the land grant decree. There were smiles and nudges among the farmers as they each signed a land grant agreement. Hoggle knew that there would be messages sent to sweethearts by the end of the day, urging the young ladies to take Sarah up on her offer.

"Thank you, your Majesty," they murmured. Then Didymus ushered the farmers out of the throne room as he had the Dwarves earlier. They would all return to the quarters they had been shown to when they first arrived.

As they left, Hoggle brought Rose and Chet to stand before Sarah. "Here are the last of the Petitioners, Your Majesty."

"Ok," Sarah said, slumping down on the throne in relief. "So, here's what's going on." Sarah explained how she had become the Queen of the Bright Mountains, and how she now was in the process of setting up the kingdom.

"Well, you didn't lie when you said this wouldn't be easy," Rose said with a sigh. "We were planning on giving you this, hoping that it would be enough to pay for that abandoned farm you told Beth about." She handed over the large amount of cash she'd been carrying. 

"No, I didn't," Sarah sighed as she accepted the money. "I was already planning on giving you the farm. I've set it up with a cottage that has a bathroom and kitchen, but it doesn't have a stove. I just don't know enough about them, and the cookstove that I've got on order for the castle kitchens is going to take at least another two weeks. The only one I could get right away was a box stove and that works, sort of, but I know we need a much better one - or better yet, several."

"Well, if we could show one to that blacksmith you were talking too, I'm sure that she could figure it out," Rose said. "In fact, my mother has one out in the summer kitchen. Do you think we could sneak her - well, back to my parents farm from here, wherever here is in relation to back there?"

Sarah smiled. "Yes, in fact I was planning on taking both of you back Above to your families' homes so that you can bring whatever you left behind Below." She reached over and picked up the two bags that Jareth had made for her. "Here," she said, handing Chet and Rose one each. "These are bags of infinite holding. That means that no matter what you put in them, they will never get any heavier, nor will they get full. The only conditions on them are that the objects must be able to fit through the mouth of the bag and that the item you put into it must be your own, or your fair portion. If it isn't yours, then the item will immediately return to wherever you got it from.

"Hoggle," Sarah called, turning to see that Hoggle had left the throne room.

"He has gone to fetch Mistress Goldbringer, Your Majesty," Sir Didymus told her. The elderly knight was wrapping up the large map of the kingdom. It would go back onto the wall in Hoggle's office.

"Good, I was about to ask him to do that," Sarah said. "Sir Didymus, please meet Chet and Rose Black. They married this morning so that Rose could take the position as the cook in charge of the castle kitchens. Rose, Sir Didymus is the Captain of the Royal Guard."

"Mistress Black," Sir Didymus said with a bow. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"And yours as well, Sir Didymus," Rose said with a small curtsy. She could tell that the manners she had learned for a school play would be of use here.

"Sir Didymus, I have a large favor to ask of you," Sarah said seriously. She hid a smile at the way Didymus almost threw himself to attention. "As your duties require you to stay here Below and protect our people from the monsters that dwell in the mines, I am hoping that you would be willing to take Chet on as your squire, so that he can protect me when I have to travel Above, and so that he can be the first of those who will soon make up the royal guard under your command." The elderly knight looked Chet up and down with his remaining eye, clearly appraising the young man's suitability. "His family has long served the lands Above that I come from," Sarah finished.

"Doest thou fish?" Sir Didymus asked. The look in the old fox's remaining eye was clearly appraising, and Sarah left him to his interrogation. 

It only took a moment for Sarah to whisk Rose back Above, to the morning of the day they had left and her parent's farm with Mistress Goldbringer in tow. Once there, the Rose led the way to her mother's summer kitchen. It was a simple building, with three solid sides and floor to ceiling screens on the fourth. At one end, there was a large sink, and on the other was a large wood burning cookstove. The rest of the building was filled with food preparation equipment on shelves and counters. Mistress Goldbringer hurried over to the stove as soon as she saw it, opening doors and sticking her head inside to examine the workmanship. Sarah left her to it.

"Ok, let's get your things, and that includes your animals and their supplies," Sarah told Rose. "They won't be bothered by being in put in your bag. As soon as they go in, as far as they're concerned they'll come right back out. You can leave them in there for as long as you need to." Rose nodded and immediately hurried over to the house, clearly intending to gather as many of the things she had left behind as she could. 

"Your Majesty," Mistress Goldbringer called, gaining Sarah's attention.

"Yes, Mistress?" Sarah asked, walking over to where the lady dwarf stood next to the stove.

"This style of stove will be easy to replicate, although I commend the smith who first thought of such an ingenious design. However, while the stove is very functional, that's all I can say about this particular one. With your permission, I'd like to add improvements to any such stove I make in my new forge - add a bit of dwarvish to the design if you know what I mean. If you'd like me to add such a thing to the Market wares, it'd be a good idea to make several different types, one for simple folk, one for noble houses and so on. Honestly, I can see several things here that I could probably do the same with," the dwarf woman said, casting her eyes over the kitchen.

Sarah smiled. "I certainly approve of your enthusiasm. Please, take whatever designs ignite your imagination. I'm certain that you could improve most, if not all of them, and as a new settlement The Bright Mountains needs all of the good ideas that we can muster. I need to help Rose gather her things, so find me in the house when you've finished your examination here." Accepting the distracted bow, Sarah hurried after Rose.


End file.
